When Ken Belanger tells you, somewhat sternly, he didn’t “enjoy” fighting during his OHL and NHL careers — “For the record, keep that straight.” — you don’t dare defy him despite his reputation for regularly dropping the gloves and devoting his six-foot-four inch frame to devouring the poor sap at the other end of his long reach.

But if the Sault Ste. Marie native and former Ottawa 67’s enforcer, who went on to log a about a decade in the NHL as one of the league’s renowned heavyweights, were today an OHL up and comer, it might have been a kinder, gentler Belanger fans would have come to have known.

That’s because of the Ontario Hockey League’s latest bid to land a knockout punch on frequent fighters.

“Let’s not keep any secrets. There’s the dollar bills being paid in the NHL now ... That’s the ultimate goal,” Belanger said on Tuesday.

“No one’s going to make the NHL fighting, anyway. Those days are completely gone. So you have to be a well-rounded player.”

Commissioner David Branch announced last Wednesday players who engage in more than 10 altercations during the regular season will receive a two-game suspension for each additional fight up to 15. For fights 16-20, the player will continue to receive two-game bans and his team will also be fined $1,000 and the league also has the latitude to institute further punishment.

If a player is instigated upon, the fight will not be included in his season total, a move designed to prevent goading a player into a suspension. OHL statistics over the past five years show 66% of OHL players fight less than twice in a season and 92% less than 10 times, Branch said.

Belanger is simply bewildered.

The 38-year-old, responsible for 695 penalty minutes during his NHL career, said if this move is merely directed to scale back fighting in hockey, Branch is barking up the wrong tree.

Fighting will never be completely eliminated, Belanger argues, and further penalizing OHL players who drop the gloves will only hurt those who move up the hockey hierarchy.

“(Hockey’s) a game of emotion, it’s a game of teamwork, it’s a game of guys protecting guys, watching each other’s backs, guys stepping up to each other if someone does a dirty hit ... It’s a game of accountability,” he said, adding NHL instigator rules have only seen concussions increase, “respect rates” diminish and “head shots” hike.

In 1992, the league ushered in the controversial “instigator” rule, which adds an additional two-minute minor penalty to the player who starts a fight.

“But I really think there will be an issue when a guy can’t stand up for a teammate,” Belanger said.

“If someone hammers a goalie, that’s OK now because, guess what, my excuse is I can’t do anything to the guy because I don’t want to get suspended.

“So now, is there accountability for anybody?”

In other words, what you might see now are some players thinking they can, perhaps, high-stick or do other dirty deeds with impunity — violations that would have earlier landed them a crack in the jaw.

“(The new rules are) not going to eliminate head shots and guys getting into fights, because, guess what, if your top-line players aren’t going to be getting into fights, they’re going to be running around, and now you’ve got your small guys who don’t have to worry about fighting,” he added.

“I just think it doesn’t put accountability in for someone not to respect their opponents because there’s no fear, there’s no repercussions.”

Denny Lambert would agree.

The Wawa native and Soo Greyhounds alumnus, who spent parts of eight seasons in the NHL, was no slouch when it came to fisticuffs — but nor was he a six-foot-five picture of elegance on the ice.

And it’s such restrictive fighting rules as those recently ushered in by OHL brass that can only hurt what Lambert dubs as one of hockey’s most enduring qualities: player versatility.

“Hockey is not just based on all skilled players ... That’s why it’s so exciting,” said the five-foot, 11 Lambert, who racked up 1,391 penalty minutes in 487 regular season NHL games.

“If you want to watch the all-star game every day, I’d advise not to want that. It’s not a very exciting game, star players not touching each other and not playing with this emotion.”

Unlike Belanger, Lambert, who spent three seasons with the Greyhounds (1988-91), said if such rules had been imposed during his OHL career, he doubts he’d have changed his style of play.

He doubts he could have.

“I’d want to play my game ... play the game on the edge,” said Lambert, 42. “I’m a little rough player, I’m not the tallest player where I just go out there and sit there and score goals.”

As far as eliminating fighting from hockey, Lambert insists it’s those campaigning for a less rough-and-tumble game who have a real battle on their hands.

“I don’t care if you’re a player who doesn’t want to fight, at some point, your emotions will boil over,” Lambert said. “Even a skilled player, at some point, they’re going to boil over and you might see them retaliate or get into a fight.

“It’s just the nature of the beast out there on the ice where you’re battling and you’re competing hard and emotions are high you’re going to see these fights happen every once in a while.”